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Friday, December 26, 2014

Today my 3.9 yr old daughter was counting my
travels. She almost covered all my international trips and certified that you
are great mamma.... he he…

That brought reminiscence of my 2014 travels. It’s been a great year in
terms of travels. When counted, I realized
that I lived one third of the year away from home. 7 international trips
with few local trips and one Himalayan travel. What else I could have asked for
?Thanks to my man Hari and my little
angel Viha for supporting and taking care of themselves in my absence.

Sky pictures from the places I travelled for this year’s last skywatch.

Shravanabelagola

2014 started with Just Go to Shravanabelagola just
for the heck of getting out of home after a dry travel year of 2013. Shravanabelgola is famous for its monolithic statue of Bahubali.This travel was impulsive. This opened up a good chapter of travels

Shravanabelagola hill view

Bhutan

Bhutan has been my favorite travel of this
year as it gave me complete freedom being in such a safe country. Land of
happiness really filled me with joy. I loved every second I spent in this land
being with myself, and connecting with my soul.

Buddha point in Thimpu

Australia - Sydney

Twice I travelled to Sydney. Wandering
through the streets of Sydney was awesome. Any day I like to explore any city
by walk. Sydney being so pedestrian friendly allowed me to go around by walk
and to experience the place more closely as if I am living there from years. I can’t
wake up early in the morning unless I
have to catch a flight. In Sydney woke up early in the morning and witnessed a spectacular sunrise in front of Opera . Pls see Sunrise at Opera

Sunrise near Opera

Banavasi –Karnataka untraveled

Banavasi is a quaint small town in
Karnataka nestled in the western ghats . Here nature’s basket is full of greenery and natural beauty with sweet locals.
This was mom daughter travel with my 3 year old. She enjoyed this travel as
much as I was.

Banavasi pond

Spiti Jeep safari

I travel to Himalayas at least once a year.
This year it was Kinnaur and Spiti jeep safari. Spiti is a land of blue sky and
stark mountains. Every sight of the sky was at its best including night. Sky
with studded milky way was a treat to eyes. But I couldn’t capture that in my
camera.

Spiti Dhankar

Germany – Berlin

I visited Germany for a very short time.
Berlin was enjoying its fall colors when I was there and celebrating 25 years of the fall of the Berlin wall. Berlin is a historical city filled with museums, art history and architecture.

Berlin - historical city

Singapore

Singapore was really a quick one. I
always wonder how Singapore attracts people with its man made wonders. It is
entertainment, entertainment and entertainment everywhere.

Singapore at night

China – Beijing and Datong
Datong was the highlight of my China travel. Yungang Grottoes are the most ancient heritage site I visited
so far. It is the land of Buddha.

Yungang Grottoes

Thailand
My last trip of the year
was to Thailand –Bangkok and Chiang Mai.( I might be wrong when I say last trip.
Still 6 days are there to go ). I liked Chiang Mai for its charm. Its skyline is
dominated by temple structures.

Chiang Mai temple

I hope you enjoyed these pictures.
I am praying good god to keep many more travels in store for 2015

Sunday, December 21, 2014

ChaingMai in the north of Thailand is an
historical place. If you decided to visit all the temples in Chinag Mai for
which the place is famous for, I am sure you will be tired but it is hard to complete all the temples. Chiang Mai is an old
city with the remains of old city wall and a moat surrounding the city. It is
the second largest city after Bangkok.

Moat around the city wall

Though it is famous for its temples and
history, its shopping streets are equally famed for its array of street food,
handicrafts, fake goods and many more items. It is such a pleasure to shop in
Chiang Mai. Many items are inexpensive which will fill your shopping bag
with plenty of items. Shoppers are spoilt for choice for sure.

Buddha representing each day of a week

During my visit to Chiang Mai, I tried 3 famous shopping streets. Though there are plenty of markets and shopping
places, 3 markets you shouldn’t miss are night bazaar, Saturday shopping street
and Sunday walking street. More than shopping I loved the array of food
available in these markets. Most of the hotels have free shuttle services for pick up and drop to all the three shopping streets

Night bazzar

It has many shops
which wake up only during night. You will find good restaurants to clothes to souvenirs
to all that you want to buy in any other tourist markets. There are few
dedicated buildings and on the footpath we can see vendors setting up their
shops.

This innocent looking confectionery has minced pork. That is what name plate read!

There is a cabaret show in the Anusaran market byladyboys who look just like ladies. I was
told that it comedy show which they call as cabaret is fun to watch. I couldn’t go there
though.

Ladyboy

Found few good food joints here.There are photo studios who dress you up in
Thai traditional attire and you get your portfolio done. I tried one…

Me getting ready to pose in Thai costume

Saturday shopping street

Starting from one of the old Chianag Mai
gates all along Wua Lai road lies Saturday shopping street. It covers about 1
km. Road is small and literally you need to wade through the sea of people.

Saturday market

Don’t
eat anything before going there. You have plenty of veg and non veg options to
try out. Shallow pocket is good enough to feed well. There are a lot of live music shows all along the
road. It was a common sight to see people getting massages done. Mushroomy massage centres dominate most of the shopping streets

Mini donuts

Sunday walking street

I went to Sunday walking street. It is the
best among all the markets. Again here what caught my eyes was food. Sleeping
street in the morning was totally looking different in the evening. It opens up
from 4 pm till mid night. Fried insects which I found in different markets was
here as well. Fried gross hopper, cricket, silkworms are available for 20THB. Do
you like to try one ?

Fried insects for sale

Some veg dish similar to our south Indian gundupongal

Found some veg restaurants as well along the
road. I tried multiple varieties of street food. Rice cake, corn, waffle,ice
cream, Thai desserts and couldn’t stop shopping until I realized I don’t have
any more money left.

I wish I will go back to Chiang Mai again somebody to explore all the markets in leisure.